Decorative packaging materials, such as are used as gift wrappings during holiday seasons for a variety of items including food and drink products sold in glass or plastic containers, personal care items and gift boxes, are of course, well known in the art. Decorative wrappings or packaging heretofore used for such purposes have included paper wrappers or cardboard boxes with fanciful designs printed on their exterior. Plastic wrappings with silver or gold colored surfaces have also been used, for example on liquor bottles. Thin plastic films, made out of polyester or other polymeric material, which are used to envelop a container have also been used for creating fanciful product wrappings. The use of such polymeric films has become quite popular due to the fact that such a film can be wrapped about an item and heat treated so that it will shrink onto the container about which it is being wrapped, thus creating a snug fitting wrapping on the container. This procedure is commonly referred to as "shrink-wrapping." Shrink-wrapped packaging is particularly advantageous when packaging and displaying two or more items together. The use of such plastic films has also become popular due to the fact that fanciful designs and messages can be printed on the exterior of the film to create holiday pictorial artwork and theme messages. The use of such shrink-wrapped packaging materials, however, has had limitations. The visual effects that have heretofore been available have been limited to printed matter, including color images and other fanciful and artistic designs which are printed on sheets of thin film on thin paper used as wrappings. It has been common to shrink-wrap thin plastic films onto such items as liquor bottles, soda bottles, iced tea bottles and other drink related or personal care items in order to package such items with other articles, including booklets, cups, etc. Attracting attention to such packaged goods for more effective marketing is the goal of every merchandising manager. Colored bows and ribbons are sometimes also used for this purpose. However, it would be desirable to create special visual and audio effects with shrink-wrapping and other wrapping materials that could be capable of attracting the attention of a shopping consumer or to create a more effective decorative appearance.
It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved type of decorative packaging using shrink-wrappable plastic films.
A further object of the present invention is to provide, in combination with a shrink-wrappable plastic film or other package wrap, means for creating audible sounds and illuminated visual effects.
Yet a further, more specific object of the present invention is to provide a shrink-wrapping film that can be used for packaging a variety of articles, including bottles, with means that can be illuminated to create a decorative visual effect when the package is subjected to certain initiating means, such as movement, sound or pressure.
Another object of the invention is to provide a package wrap with devices that produce a variety audible of sounds or that can be illuminated in order to highlight certain aspects or areas on a decorative design of the package.
The above objects, features and advantages, along with other objects, features, and advantages will become more apparent from the detailed description of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings to be described more fully hereinafter.